Salem Brings Permanent Death

I’ve played a lot of MMOs over the years and, while I haven’t played one since Star Trek: Online, I like to try and keep up with various MMOs. Since I stopped playing ST:O, however, I haven’t been really in the mood for any other MMO these days.

Now that more games, such as Lord of the Rings Online, have adopted a free-to-play strategy I find myself becoming interested once again. But, so far, I’ve held off from committing myself to a MMO. However there are a couple prospects that might be able to draw me in. The most recent of those prospects is the newly announced Salem MMORPG.

Salem, if you are interested to know, is a free-to-play MMORPG being developed by Paradox Interactive who created such titles as Europa Universalis, Majesty 2, and Mount & Blade. Taking place in New England this upcoming MMO will allow players to don the roles of intrepid colonists who leave the Old World in order to create new lives for themselves in the New World. Yet while Salem might tout a light-hearted gothic setting filled with a charming art-style, you should beware. In this MMO there is such a thing as permanent death.

In other words, once you die in player-vs-player combat your character is dead and gone forever.

Taken from IGN’s article:

"Salem is a free-to-play MMO game that is going to add something new to the genre with the concept of generations rather than just a single character through the game," said Tom Soderlund, Project Lead for Paradox Connect. "If your character is killed in the game, and believe me it can be dangerous in Salem, their descendent has the ability to pick up where your character left off. The concept of revenge and towns policing themselves and even sanctioning hits on griefers is going to be a really compelling aspect. We know we'll see some interesting things when the community finally has a chance to play Salem later this year."

This feature alone will be what sets this MMO apart from all others. The fact that your character will die, and unable to be resurrected, could change the way people play. Add to that the following features of a persistent and mutable world, along with crafting, farming, and building, and Salem has the potential to be a great MMO.

With a mutable world this MMO will allow players to cut down forests, cultivate farmland, and build their own houses where they see fit. Yet it will allow players to raze those same houses and destroy those fields while killing the people who worked so hard to cultivate the land and build a home.

With the possibilities of revenge killings, large man-hunts for griefers, and maybe even our own Salem Witch Trials, it will be interesting to see how towns and cities develop in this game.

If you want to learn about this game a little more than check out this interview with the Creative Director for Salem.

So what do you guys think about this upcoming MMO? Does it sound promising?